1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to printing apparatus such as electrophotographic copying machines and electrophotographic printers, and more particularly to an electrophotographic recording apparatus having an exposing unit on a cover thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
With conventional printing apparatus such as electrophotographic copying machines and electrophotographic printers, the operator opens a lid to replace an image-forming unit and/or a toner cartridge or to remove jammed paper. The lid is usually of simple construction in which the lid is opened and closed substantially in a vertical direction.
Among the electrophotographic printers on the market is one in which, for example, an LED head as an exposing unit used for electrophotography is mounted on a lid. Such a printer includes four LED heads for forming yellow, magenta, cyan, and black images on corresponding image forming units.
However, such a conventional electrophotographic recording apparatus having LED heads suffers from the problem that when the operator opens a lid to replace an image-forming unit and/or a toner cartridge or to remove jammed paper, the LED heads that project downward from the lid interfere with the operator""s hands. In order that the LED heads do not interfere with the operator""s hands, the lid should be designed to open wider.
The present invention was made in view of the aforementioned drawbacks of the conventional apparatus.
An object of the invention is to provide an electrophotographic recording apparatus in which when the user replaces a toner cartridge and/or image forming unit or removes jammed paper, an exposing unit does not obstruct the operations.
An electrophotographic recording apparatus according to the invention has a lid movable to open and close relative to a body of the apparatus, the lid having an exposing unit mounted thereto. The recording apparatus comprises a collapsible mechanism and a gear mechanism. The collapsible mechanism can be selectively deformed into a collapsed position and into an expanded position. The gear mechanism drives the collapsible mechanism to deform selectively into the collapsed position and the expanded position. When the lid is opened, the collapsible mechanism causes the exposing unit to move to a retracted position. When the lid is closed, the collapsible mechanism causes the exposing unit to move to an extended position. When the lid is opened and closed, said gear mechanism operates operatively with the lid to cause the collapsible mechanism to be selectively deformed into the collapsed position and into the expanded position.
The exposing unit extends longitudinally and has a first longitudinal end and a second longitudinal end. When the lid is opened, one of the first and second longitudinal ends is moved to the retracted position.
The exposing unit is mounted to the collapsible mechanism through a biasing member. When the lid is closed, the collapsible mechanism is deformed into the expanded position so that the exposing unit is placed in position with respect to an image-forming unit and the biasing member urges the exposing unit against the image-forming unit.
The gear mechanism may include a torque limiter.
The exposing unit extends substantially parallel to an axis about which the lid pivots to open and close.
The exposing unit extends in a direction substantially perpendicular to an axis about which the lid pivots to open and close.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.